Different features between subjects with asthma diagnosis and with only asthmatic symptoms

Aim: to evaluatewhethersubjectswithonlyasthmasymptomshavedifferent
characteristicswithrespecttothosewhohavealsoasthmadiagnosisinanItalian
generalpopulationsample.
Methods: ongoing cross-sectionalItalianstudywithintheframeworkoftheEuro-
pean UnionfundedprojectIMCA2(IndicatorsforMonitoringCOPDandAsthma
in theEU)involving1000selectedsubjectslivinginPisa.
An informationtechnologytooldevelopedbythecoordinatingcentre(IMIM,
Barcelona)wasusedtoadministerquestionnairesonrespiratorysymptoms/diseases
and riskfactors,andtorecordspirometricparameters.
A MultinomialLogisticRegression(MLR)analysiswasperformedtoassessthe
associationbetweenriskfactorsandpresenceofasthmadiagnosis(with/without
symptoms)oronlyasthmasymptomsrepresentedbywheezing/whistling,dysp-
noea 2ndlevel+,attacksofshortnessofbreathwithwheezesandnocturnalasthma
attacks.Subjectswithneitherasthmadiagnosisnorsymptomswerethereference
category.